Often deceptively tough-looking problems have the simplest solutions. The best of us may have had to yield to rivers going upstream or downstream, but Byju Raveendran always made the shore. And here's why: instead of trying to solve the question, he first sought to find the problem. For those of us still working the oars, he explains, "The very fact that children need to be coaxed to get an education tells you what the issue is. They do not see learning as an interesting experience," says Raveendran. This was in 2007. Cut to the present, and he is still working on the solution, one problem at a time.

"The real value of education can be understood only if the learning process is altered to make it more engaging," says the founder of edu-tech startup Byju's Learning App. "The idea is not to replace schools, but to make learning enjoyable for students by making it more visual," he adds.

Chapter 1 Started out in 2007 as informal workshops for CAT aspirants, Byju's has graduated to include school curriculum with personalised lessons for students. "Our offline offering, that went by the name 'Byju's Classes' - a name that resonates with students even today - enjoyed limited success because it only catered to the handful who were preparing for competitive exams. These classes eventually took on an online format in 2009 and included school grades in 2011," says Raveendran.

But the most remarkable turnaround came with the launch of the app last year. "We noticed a spike in subscriptions since the app was put in motion. We saw additional participation from over 2,00,000 students in the last 10 months, of which 30,000 came on board in the last 30 days," he says.

Hot & Appening Launched in August 2015, the app offers a wide array of video-based lessons to choose from, helping students understand concepts in a manner that is less cumbersome. "The app has helped us reach out to many more users who can get access to the best teachers in an affordable way," says Raveendran. It operates on a freemium model whereby students get open access to some content, but will be required to pay a premium as they advance to higher levels.

Raveendran may be on to something here, as today the app is contributing a major chunk to the overall earnings of the company. "We got more than five million downloads in less than a year of its launch," he says. But, it was not a chance development. "The app has been a culmination of years of labour," he says. "We started working on the app way back in 2011 and it took us nearly four years to launch it," he says.

Final assessment In the last few years, Byju's revenue has seen a jump from Rs 12 crore in the first year of operation to Rs 120 crore now. "In a way, Byju's never had a pre-revenue stage because it was profitable from the start. So instead of seeking seed funds, we used the money that was internally generated from the profits that we made of the offline classes. Investments procured subsequently helped accelerate our growth and enabled us to reach out to a much larger group," he says.

Byju's secured Series A funding of $10 million in February 2014 after which the product was launched on tablets. Series B of $30 million took place the following year in June and mostly went into product development and team expansion. The company also raised a fresh round of funding early this year in February, which stood at $75 million and is currently the largest infusion of funds in any edu-tech startup in India. And Raveendran has grand plans with it.

"The model which we have in India is already profitable, so we will be targeting international markets with the funds raised," he says. "We already got 15% revenue from some of the West Asian countries like Dubai and Kuwait, but these are basically an extension of the Indian market. Now, our focus will be the Commonwealth countries as well as the US and UK. We are also exploring some potential acquisitions, which will give us insights into some of those markets," he adds.

Main learning Raveendran feels that online learning is not merely digitizing a textbook. He expounds, "Learning can be made a lot more effective if technology is used right, and that is where some of the previous attempts globally did not work out."

He is also quick to dismiss the wave of investor interest in the edu-tech sector in India. "It can never be about the sector - segments cannot become attractive just because one or two players raised a large amount of money. That is not even how investors should look at it," he says. "Any company that is built on a strong foundation and is making an impact will naturally attract investors. From a founder perspective also, it is important that you understand the segment and find partners that are right for your company," he adds.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons why increasing competition in this space has him completely unfazed. "Competition has never worried me -- the bigger competition is with self. If you keep on looking at what others are doing, you will miss out on reaching your true potential and this is something I tell my students also," he signs off.

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